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Making Mead, or “Honey Wine”

Preparing to blend ingredients

Primitive Fermentation Lock

Raisins as yeast nutrition

Beautiful raw honey

sliced orange

Secondary Fermentation with real fermentation lock

I followed a very simple recipe to make this batch of mead. Beginning with a gallon of spring water, I removed half of the gallon, added 2 lbs of honey, 8 orange slices, 25 raisins and one packet of yeast (any type. I used bread yeast as the recipe indicated but will use a light yeast next time. Return enough water to the gallon jug to reach within an inch or two of the top. Replace gallon jug lid with either a fermentation lock or just a regular balloon with a pinhole at the top. The hole in the balloon allows gases to escape and prevents air from entering your brew. By the next morning, the balloon had filled enough with air that it was standing upright! The balloon’s subsequent deflation indicated to me that the fermentation had completed.

The last photograph shows where we are now in the mead making process. It’s sitting in the glass jug for the last few days of its secondary fermentation (I’ve already poured it off once.) We actually tasted this concoction a few days ago. Oh my! I am not a fan of any type of alcohol (other than vanilla extract!) and this just about took my breath away. Granted, I was not expecting it to be so alcoholic so very quickly (one week’s time). From this point, I think it’s supposed to sit in a quiet place for about 6 months. However, if you’re interested in coming over and tasting before that time, be my guest!!

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2 comments

Thank you Miss Becca, I might just try your recipe. I have made some beer from our local Mustang grapes. Most of the time I got a bunch of vinegar. However a few times all clicked and it was fine. Hollis and Alice

She Who Loves a Garden

In my garden there is a large place for sentiment. My garden of flowers is also my garden of thoughts and dreams. The thoughts grow as freely as the flowers, and the dreams are as beautiful. ~Abram L. Urban